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Deck piers in high water table

Hey folks,

I have a deck that wraps around the front and side of the house and is at the 2nd floor level. The deck needs to be rebuilt this year, but more importantly the piers supporting the deck have been disintegrating over the past couple years and move quite a bit with the frost. A few of the piers have even moved from their original position and are at a lean.

There's a high water table to deal with also. At times the heaving during the winter is so bad that a couple deck posts will swing in the breeze, making a very unsafe situation.

I've started to investigate geotechnical engineers, but I thought I'd throw a thread out there to see if anyone else has had to deal with a similar situation.

The entire deck will come down this summer, but starting from the ground up, what should I do in order to build more stable supports in a high water table/frost heaving area of W. MA?

Re: Deck piers in high water table

Are the post just sitting on top of the ground? Get a professional piling guy to wash some pilings down into the ground around 8'. Take some rebar and concrete down below the frost level to help stablelize it in the winters.

Re: Deck piers in high water table

You can use a big foot system and dig all you want. I've used this system on a few jobs. From decks to additions, and even sinking homes, it's very economical, fast, and to building code. It's basically large (12-16")spirical bit, drilled into the earth. A small machine about the size of a large wheel barrell drills it down until it reaches necessary depths and readings. That may be 4' or 40'. The machine has a digital display the operator uses to know when to stop. Building dept. will get a whole breakdown of depths and soil readings from the installer after installed. I swear by this system. It's saved me a lot of time, money, and headaches!